


What we sow

by SkittishCat



Series: Beyond the Walls [2]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Gen, The curse of the determinant character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-19 04:56:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20651561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkittishCat/pseuds/SkittishCat
Summary: Decades after the events of TFS, the newcomer learns more about the city that was founded by Clementine and the Ericson group as they defend it from a new threat.





	What we sow

Over the course of Carl’s life he’d seen and taken part in entirely too much violence. He knew firsthand the affect that sort of trauma had those who survived it and he wanted more than anything in the world to spare his children from the horrors he’d lived through. Carl’s father had made sure it was possible for people to once again live without fear that hordes of the dead would wipe them out, but the nature of the living had remained unchanged. Conflict born of greed, jealousy, and ambition remained ever present, even as the last of the billions of old world walkers turned to dust. The Commonwealth had effectively defended its people from the roamers outside its borders, but it couldn’t protect them from their own fallibility.

The rift began with a simple lapse in security. Chattel dead escaped from a travelling side show, only to be destroyed by a vigilant survivor of the trials. The side show owner’s demands for compensation escalated to a dispute over property rights that made its way into the courts where it grew to become a national crisis, as both parties had political connections at the highest levels. At first the discussion centered on the ill treatment of the defendant, the son of a national hero, but then it widened into a debate over the ethics of the ownership of walkers. Ultimately it became clear that the rift had become irreconcilable, and so, by mutual agreement, it was decided that a separation was needed to avoid a civil war. The Commonwealth’s second and third expansion zones became autonomous nations, with the Virginia expansion reverting to its old status as The Virginia Coalition, while the Pennsylvania expansion zone, which had been a disorganized collection of settlements before it had been incorporated into The Commonwealth, became The Freestate of Pennsylvania. Both outlawed the ownership of the dead. The original territory of The Commonwealth retained its name, as well as its first expansion zone to the west and the scattered colonies it had been developing in New England and The Midlands. It continued to allow the ownership of animated cadavers.

It was in Virginia, on a farm outside Alexandria, that Carl had settled to hopefully raise his two children, Andrea and Glenn, in peace. Most parents would be pleased to see their children grow to be as accomplished as Andrea, but all Carl could see was the fate that had befallen his father. She was a natural leader; strong, moral, and just, which he knew meant that she was bound for a hard life. He was much happier to see that his younger child was drawn to simpler pursuits. 

Everyone had expected that Carl to name his son after his famous father and were surprised when he instead named him after the father of the man whose greed had shattered The Commonwealth. “Glenn Rhee was a good man” Carl would explain. “While his son might be a piece of shit, I intend to raise his namesake to be the sort of man he was.” All Carl wanted from Glenn was for him to be a good man, not a great one. That’s why he didn’t burden him with his grandfather’s name.

Carl knew the world was still a violent place and so he taught his children how to defend themselves. He was secretly pleased to see that Glenn treated his training as chore rather than a game. He was glad to see that Glenn was horrified by the tales of the trials he and his father had lived through, rather than excited by them as Andrea had been. Given the choice, Glenn would rather sit under a tree and whittle than practice shooting, which gave Carl hope that his son’s peaceful nature would steer him clear of the violence that had cursed their family.

When a local carpenter made it known that he was looking for an apprentice, Carl introduced him to Glenn and showed him the various carvings he’d made that decorated their home. Wood just made sense to Glenn, a lot more than people did. He took to carpentry with ease, which pleased Carl to no end. He wouldn’t have to worry about Glenn being pulled toward the sort of profession that would draw him into conflict, like law enforcement or the military, because of his grandfather’s reputation. His son would instead have an ordinary, peaceful, life. 

Having spent the majority of his life working with wood left Glenn particularly attuned to its properties. He was always aware of its grain, its pattern, its density, its malleability, and any number of other factors most people would tend to ignore. On his first journey to Everett, it was the scent that drew his attention. As he made his way along the forest shrouded road, he found himself surrounded by a familiar variety of pine. Even though he’d never been to this place before, he just knew he’d worked with wood that had come from here. The scent even triggered memories of particular pieces of furniture he’d made out of wood that had come from this place. 

As he neared his destination, he noticed a shift in the atmosphere. The fragrance of pine became mixed with a hint of Applewood. The broken old world pavement transitioned to fresh cobblestone and the forest gave way to land that had been clear-cut to make room for farms, giving him a clear view of the source of the new aroma. Beyond the farmland stood a vast orchard that stretched as far as he could see. 

He continued on until sunset and made camp at the edge of the orchard, then rose at dawn to finish his journey. A light dusting of snow had fallen during the night, and frost had accumulated on the bare limbs of the trees. He rode several miles amidst the sparkling majesty of countless thirty foot apple trees before arriving at the city gate. The city wall wasn’t as tall as the trees that surrounded it, but at least a hundred yards had been left clear between it and the edge of the orchard to prevent anyone from using the cover of the trees to circumvent the city’s defenses. A row of heads on pikes could be seen atop the wall, while the wall’s face was adorned by gibbets holding walkers in varying states of decay. Each was accompanied by a sign that explained why they were there, the majority of them being put on display for being raiders or bandits. The gruesome display surrounding the gate stood in sharp contrast to the beauty of the snow covered orchard he’d just passed through, reminding him that he was once again leaving the comforting solitude of nature for the harshness of humanity. Glenn looked for Sister Beatrice among the heads, but didn’t find her. She must have been placed at another entrance.

Several guards monitored the activity at the gate, mostly waving through people who must have been familiar to them, but occasionally stopping outsiders to determine their business, including Glenn. It was no surprise when they asked him to wait while they verified his story. What did surprise him was how courteous they were. 

At most of the towns he’d delivered his wares to, the gate guards would’ve gruffly told him wait outside or even leave. These guards had invited him to come just inside their wall, let him hitch his horse, and even shared some of their hot cider with him. After spending a week on the road he definitely appreciated their hospitality.

Curiously, none of the guards had left their post to notify anyone of his arrival, but they still reassured him that it wouldn’t be long before he could be vetted. He leaned against the wall, sipped the sweet cider, wondered for a moment how they went about spicing it, and then began scanning the town to learn what he could about these people from the limited view he had from their gate. His eyes hadn’t panned very far before they were drawn to a bobbing tuft of grey hair coming his way along the base of the wall. She hadn’t been kidding, she really was running, but as she got closer he could see she wasn’t using the same prosthetic that she had been when they’d first met. This one looked more like an elongated spoon than a foot. When she spotted him leaning against the wall, Clementine rounded her course in his direction, stopped a few feet away, stood with her hands on her hips, and appeared only slightly winded. 

She sounded genuinely pleased to see him. “Well hello there stranger, whatcha doing here? The way we parted the last time I saw you, I was worried I wouldn’t be hearing from you again, let alone receive a visit.”

He continued to study her prosthetic as he answered “I delivered your message to the council, I thought it was only right to deliver the news in person…”

She waved her hand in front of him then tilted her head so it was in front of his face. She smiled and told him “It’s a carbon fiber blade. It was state of the art back when the world changed. It gives me an extra spring when I run. I don’t use it very often because, well, it tends to draw a lot of attention, but today I got challenged to a race.” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder to alert him to the presence of a young man who was huffing and puffing his way toward them. She grinned as he arrived and stood next to her with his hands on his knees while he struggled to catch his breath. “He’s great at sprints, but still needs to learn to pace himself for long distance.” The young man shot her a quick glare but he was still too out of breath to comment, so he ended up just raising his middle finger to her instead. Clem’s grin converted to the beaming smile of a proud grandma and she embraced him with one arm. “This here’s Lee, he’s AJ and Jessi’s son. You’re what, thirty now?”

“Ten” he breathlessly corrected her.

“Ah, my mistake. Well Lee, this here’s Glenn Grimes. He came all the way from Alexandria to deliver some bad news.”

More in control of his breathing, Lee asked “About the alliance?”

Still smiling Clem replied “Yeah… He came to tell us it’s not gonna happen.”

Glenn had spent his journey ruminating over how he’d break the news to her. At no point had he imagined that she’d simply read it on his face, let alone that she’d be so cavalier about it. Was she just putting on a brave face for the kid or did she really not care that help wouldn’t be coming? She’d said that her original plan had been to go it alone against The Provident and that his assistance was only needed to bring their war to a quick end. Perhaps she’d already made other arrangements that would bring about a swift resolution without Virginia’s help.

Her smile faded, and she begrudgingly pointed out “We should probably let the rest of the leadership know about this.”

“You mean the town council?” Glenn asked.

“Them too” came her reply. “C’mon, I’ll show you the way.” She pointed at his horse’s reigns and added “Starting with where to stable her.” 

As she pointed, Glenn noticed she had fresh abrasions on her knuckles. He gestured toward her hand and asked “Did you go another round with a stairwell?”

She looked at her hand and sheepishly replied “Oh, that. That’s just my version of an alarm clock. Some people wake up to a bell ringing, I wake up to the sound of my own hands thumping into whatever’s nearest“. She let out a short, pained laugh “I just wish I could figure out how to set the time on them, they keep going off at odd hours of the night… It made for an awkward couple of marriages. Constantly waking up swinging I mean... Sorry, that’s probably more than you wanted to hear.”

The livery wasn’t far and they arrived within minutes. She made arrangements to board his horse and even produced Appalachian scrip from her pocket to pay the boarding fee. The banknotes were a lot smaller than the ones he was used to seeing. They also appeared to be slicker. “Could I see one of those?” He asked.

“Sure” she replied and handed him one of the bills. The paper was slick to the touch, while the writing, which appeared to be a combination of brand and ink, indicated that it was redeemable for one dollar’s worth of gold or salt from the Union Reserve Bank of Everett Appalachia.

He handed it back and asked “What kind of paper do you make these out of?”

“Vellum” she replied. “We work with what we’ve got. We’ve got lots of wood but wood-pulp paper fell apart too quickly when we tried to make our money out of it. In the old world they used a cotton and wool blend to make their bills last longer but cotton is in short supply around here. Since we couldn’t get it to work with just wood and wool, we decided to try animal skin. We’ve got lots of hunters operating in the area and you may have noticed those farms you passed on the way in were mostly livestock, so we end up with lots of skins to work with. We also made them smaller than the old world dollars to try to stretch our resources.”

She pocketed the bill and motioned for them to get moving. She spoke as they walked “Sorry, this won’t be much of a tour. The route we’re taking isn’t going to pass anything more interesting than my home. Well, I suppose there’s the sewer, it was really interesting to see while it was being built but I don’t think either of us wants to go down there now that it’s in use. That was the east gate you entered. The east and north parts of town are mostly residential. The good stuff, in my opinion at least, can be found to the south and west. To the west we have the lumber mill and the industrial complex that’s grown up around it. For a while our mill made us the top lumber producer in the region, but now every town seems to have their own mill, so we had to diversify, mostly paper products. Toilet paper turned out to be particularly popular. Everyone who was around before the trials misses it and so far we’re the only ones who’re making it. At peak production the mill gets so loud you can hear it from all the way over here. Fun fact about the mill… well maybe not fun exactly… back in the days before the old world walkers rotted off, the noise from the mill used to draw tons of them here. We eventually set up walls near the mill to funnel them into a mulcher. We got plenty of fertilizer that way. Without that fertilizer, I’m not sure how well the orchard would have turned out. In the south we have the cider house, and well, cider has passed toilet paper as our chief export…”

“Why apples?” Glenn cut in. “It just seems like kind of an unusual choice for your staple crop.”

“We were trying to figure out what to do with all the land that was being cleared by our loggers. Back then people were pouring in. AJ hadn’t gone on his crusade yet so raiders were still a big deal and people kept coming to us because they thought we could keep them safe. We didn’t have enough room for them all inside the school so a big ole tent city sprouted up around us with just a quick and dirty palisade wall around it to keep the tent dwellers safe. We figured it was a disaster waiting to happen and we needed to come up with an actual plan or things would eventually go really badly for us. We plotted a wide expansion zone and mapped out the city you see today. The consensus was that any land we ended up clearing outside the main wall should be used for farming. I argued that the terrain in this part of the country was too uneven for traditional farms but it would be less of an issue for an orchard. Really, I just love apples and thought it would be cool to live in a place that always smelled like them.” She put on a big smile, held out her arms, and did a 360 degree turn as they walked “It worked, they bought it, and now I get to be immersed in this aroma every day.” She stopped for a moment and took an exaggeratedly deep breath. “This time of year, when everyone’s making hot cider, is when it’s at its absolute best. Hey, don’t judge, when you get to plan your own city, you can make it smell however you want too.”

In a playfully defensive tone he replied “I wasn’t judging. I just don’t usually put that much thought into smells and I don’t have a clue what I’d make a town smell like if I could. I’m trying now and all I can think of is ‘anything but horses’”.

She gave out a little laugh “The horses themselves aren’t so bad, but I know what you mean.” Glenn happened to glance over at Lee. He looked as serious as Clementine looked cheerful. It was kind of eerie, the way his eyes were locked on Glenn. It felt like he was observing Glenn the way a poker player would while studying his opponent for tells. Seeing the golden glint of sunlight in those eyes, he also found it odd that they appeared to be the same color as Clem’s, even though he knew they weren’t truly blood relatives.

“This is it” she called out, “This is my home.” It was a modest single story box, less than half the size of the houses he was used to seeing in Alexandria. She pointed to the buildings next to it “Those used to be the old library and my old schoolhouse but the town outgrew them, so we built bigger ones. They converted the schoolhouse into a church and the library into our prosthetics workshop. I’m not the only amputee here.” She tapped on her left leg “The expedition that brought me this got lots of parts that could be used by people other than just me, but just having the parts isn’t enough. A lot goes into making sure they fit correctly. If they don’t they can do a lot of damage… believe me, I learned that the hard way when my first peg leg dug a hole in my stump. And don’t even get me started on how much maintenance these things can take after a while.” 

She walked over to the entrance of her home and put on a mock tour guide voice. “If you look here you’ll see an old house that some weirdo painted purple.” She dropped the tour guide voice and added “I miss that weirdo…” She shot Glenn a half smile and conceded “I know, this has all been really exciting stuff. You should’ve come by the south gate, I could’ve shown you the metal works at the site of the old train station. It’s a lot more interesting than any of this has been.” She put her prosthetic foot on the step and said “I’d invite you in but the most interesting thing to show you in there is my closet full of legs. Well, that and the dents in my wall.” She held up her hands to remind him of the abrasions on her knuckles. “Which I’d kinda rather not share”. She put her hands down, rapped her fingers on the socket of her prosthetic, and continued “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna swap this out for something a little less conspicuous. Lee can take you on ahead, I’ll catch up in a little bit.” She then proceeded into her home and shut the door, leaving him in the care of the ten year old who, to this point, had barely said a word.

“C’mon, I’ll show you to the admin building” he said, and began walking. Glenn took a few quick steps to catch up and walk beside him. The boy kept his eyes forward as he spoke. “How’d you decide?”

Confused, Glenn replied “I don’t know what you mean”.

“What turned your people against us, our delegates or your delegates?” Glenn gave him a confused look, so Lee continued. “When Clem told me about what happened in Johnstown, I knew your council would say no. I told her you would. It was what she did to the Appalachians, wasn’t it? They could forgive her for not being able to save all of your people, since she hadn’t planned on their being there. But they couldn’t forgive what she did to our delegates. She could’ve made a plan to save them but she didn’t even try. It made it kind of obvious what she was doing. She said you called her out on it, then and there, that she was just getting rid of her rivals. I told her what she did to them was a mistake. That it would cost us the alliance. Was I right?”

It had been a while since Glenn was ten, but he was pretty sure this wasn’t the sort of thing they normally talked about when he was that age. “I… I don’t know. I can’t really say what went through their heads. I know it wasn’t what they said their reason was, although it could’ve played into it. I know they were really pissed about what happened to our delegates and when the vote was over they said they considered Clementine to be a greater threat than The Provident, especially now after she’d wiped out The Provident’s army.”

Lee flatly explained “They’re wrong you know. We aren’t the greater threat. We’re your only chance, but I don’t think they’re gonna believe that until it’s too late. The Provident aren’t finished, and Clem’s wrong too. They aren’t stupid enough to attack her here. She hurt them too badly, they won’t underestimate her again. They’ll try to get her to come to them, away from our mountains, and the best way to do that will be to attack her friends. They knew there were Virginians at that table. It’d make sense that we’d team up against them. It’d be weird if we didn’t, but here we are anyway, ‘a house divided against ourselves.’” He looked at Glenn and pleaded “Without us, you’ll be stuck facing them alone, but you don’t have the mountains to protect you. You have to convince Clem to help your people, even though they wouldn’t help us.”

This definitely was not normal. What had she been teaching this kid? “You know this isn’t a game, right? Shouldn’t you be thinking about stuff more your age and let the adults worry about this?”

Lee turned his eyes back toward their path “By the time Clem was my age she’d already had to make tons of life or death decisions. The old world did nothing to prepare her for what she was up against, so she ended up making lots of bad choices and people died. She doesn’t want me to be unprepared like she was. She’s been teaching me, stuff she learned from all the mistakes she made, so I won’t end up spending my life in constant mourning like she has. So this is exactly the sort of thing I should be thinking about. This is what Clem has been preparing me for.”

Well, Glenn got his answer; she’d been trying to make sure he wouldn’t end up like her, while simultaneously ensuring he would. Poor kid.

“She doesn’t want me to be soft, or naive. She wants me to know what’s going on, always. She says I need to learn how to lead, and she doesn’t want me to have to figure it out as I go, like she had to. It’s not just _her_ mistakes she wants me to learn from, she’s been teaching me a lot about history, what’s worked and what hasn’t. That’s why I wanted to know what caused your people to say no. It’s not so much that I want to learn from this mistake, I want to know if I’m getting the hang of this. I see it as a test. If what I predicted is what happened, then I passed.”

“Well, they said no, so I guess you passed.”

“Weren’t you in the room when they talked about it? Didn’t you hear their reasons?”

“Well, yeah, I was there, but it sort of went in one ear and out the other. Politics isn’t exactly my thing.”

Lee scoffed “You’d better make it you thing, you’re knee deep in it.”

The street they were on ended at a wide open park, roughly three hundred yards long by three hundred yards wide. It had a tall statue in the middle and several foot paths, all of which converged at the statue. Scattered throughout the park were benches, tables, and exhibit boards. At the north end of the park stood a long stone wall with an iron gate in the middle, beyond which Glenn could see a tower and several buildings. Two large stone structures stood to either side of the walled complex, while a variety of smaller structures, mostly merchants, lined the streets to the east, west, and south of the park.

Lee led Glenn to one of the exhibit boards that explained the making of the statue. “That’s Lee Everett. The town and I are both named after him. He was pretty important to Clem, but she made a bad decision and it got him killed.” The board explained how they managed to find some pictures of him in a university publication that they were then able to base the statue on. Lee pointed to the center structure to the north “That’s where we’re headed, Fort Texas, it’s where the founders fought off The Delta. It’s also where the admin building is located. To the left is The Union Reserve Bank, which Aasim says is the most important building in Appalachia. To the right is our library, which Clem says is the most important building in the world.”

Lee led Glenn past the statue and down the central path toward the fort. They passed another exhibit board along the way that explained how the park had been built on the site of the old tent city but Lee didn’t seem to be interested in stopping for this one, so Glenn didn’t get a chance to read very much of it. 

The gates swung open as they approached the fort, allowing the two of them to enter. The guards and Lee greeted each other by name as they passed through the gate. He must’ve come here a lot. Once inside, Glenn paused as he found himself within a few feet of one of the howitzers he’d seen at Johnstown. Lee commented “That wasn’t there the last time I was here, I can’t really tell you what it is, but it looks cool.” 

Lee kept walking and eventually Glenn followed. When he caught up with Lee, he found him on a pathway surrounded by crosses. “This is the graveyard of the founders. This here’s Marlon, my dad shot him after he killed Brody, who’s buried there. This here’s Rosie, she was Marlon’s dog but she became Clem’s dog after Marlon died. This is Mitch, not the one you met but the one he was named after. This Mitch died protecting Tennessee, who is over here. My dad said Tenn was his first friend, but that Tenn died because he was naïve, which is why I can never be naive. These are Sophie and Minnie, they were Tennessee’s sisters. Minnie joined The Delta and killed Sophie, then hurt Clem’s leg so it got bit and had to be cut off. This is Mrs. Martin, she taught Ruby to be a nurse but got killed protecting the founders from walkers. This is Violet, she’s who named this place Texas, although Aasim added the word ‘fort’ in front of it because he thought just calling it Texas was silly. Clem said Violet was her first love, but she made a bad decision about who to trust and it got Vi killed. That’s when Mom and Dad first put together the Rangers, to get the bandits that killed Vi. This here’s Louis, he didn’t have a tongue so he talked with his hands. Clem said that after losing Vi she never wanted to love again, but with Louis she couldn’t help it. She said he always tried to make her happy, and that’s what got him killed.”

Glenn observed “I see they left a space open between Louis and Violet.”

“That’s mine” announced Clementine from behind them, causing Glenn to jump because he hadn’t noticed her arrival. In a somewhat irritated tone, she announced “I think the tour’s over, lets head on in.” She now had on the less conspicuous prosthetic that she’d been wearing in Johnstown. They proceeded up the steps into the building, then up a staircase to a large office where several people were already meeting, only one of whom Glenn recognized.

AJ’s face lit up as he greeted his son with a “Hey there little man!” For his part, Lee responded with a shy “Hi dad” accompanied by a waist high wave with his left hand. AJ held his arms out to his sides as an invitation for a hug, but Lee just blushed, crossed his arms, and discretely shook his head, which left AJ looking disappointed. Here was a man who’d played a pivotal role in the founding of a nation, but to his son he was just as embarrassing as every parent seems at that age.

Clem closed the door behind them and began the introductions. “This here’s Glenn, he was sent from Alexandria to deliver their council’s decision on our proposed alliance. Glenn, this is Aasim, he’s the Mayor of Everett. Over here is AJ, he’s one of the commanders of the Rangers. This here’s Molly, she’s a member of the council and one of the block commanders of the town’s militia. She was also our Sheriff for many years, so she can provide us any law enforcement insight we may need. Next we have Roberta, she’s a member of the council and a representative of the merchants’ guild, and finally we come to Hal, he’s a member of the council and our town’s master machinist.” With that she took a seat by the desk, as did the rest of the adults, while Lee took a seat to the side of the room. Glenn remained standing by the entrance. “I believe you had something to say?” Clem prompted.

Glenn stammered “Well, um, I wasn’t expecting all this, and so quickly.”

Clem pointed to an object on the desk and casually stated “That’s not a decoration. We ran the phone lines throughout the town at the same time we ran the power lines. You may have noticed the library on your way in. We have researchers there scouring books for clues about how to replicate old world technologies. We aren’t exactly doing anything new here, we’re just following the instructions left behind by previous generations.”

Having no clue what a phone was, but figuring now wasn’t the time to ask, Glenn continued “Right, well, I’m not exactly here to deliver an official message, I just came on my own to tell Clem, but um, I guess I’m telling all of you now… the leaders of The Virginia Coalition have decided that there can be no alliance with Appalachia.” 

The council sat in stone faced silence until eventually Molly piped in “Is that it?”

A bit stunned by their muted reaction, Glenn replied with a reserved “Yes”.

“Did they give a reason?” asked Aasim.

“Again, I’m not here to say anything official, but during the deliberations they did talk about how The Provident have already been defeated by your flood at Johnstown, and that while The Provident have as of yet to actually kill any of our people, Clementine has, which to them makes you seem like more of a threat to us than they are.”

Aasim narrowed his eyes and announced to the room “Did you hear that? Clem managed to lose herself a friend because of that damn flood. Now where have I heard that before?”

“Back off!” Clem growled. “I did what I had to, and that plan was as much Mitch’s as it was mine.”

Enraged, Aasim pressed back “Are you saying my son planned to die there? That he committed suicide? Suicide by Clem, is that it?”

AJ glared at Aasim and reminded him “She’s not the one who blew the dam, I did. So if you have to blame someone, blame me!”

Molly struck her cane against the floor “Stop it! This isn’t the time.”

After a moment Aasim regained his composure and turned to Glenn “Could you please wait outside for a few minutes while we discuss our response?” Glenn did as he was asked.

After about fifteen minutes, Lee emerged, with a wide eyed smile on his face. “They’re ready for you to come back” he announced, then held the door open so Glenn could come back in. Curiously, Glenn noticed that his eyes now appeared green. Hazel, Glenn recalled, that’s what that eye color was called. It could look yellow in some lighting conditions and green in others and it was definitely not the same as Clem’s. As Glenn entered the room, Lee whispered “I passed, big time!” Then closed the door behind them.

Hal slid a chair toward Glenn stating “You’re gonna want this” then returned to his own seat. 

Aasim spoke first “We’ve decided there’s some things you need to know. Just keep in mind, we can’t tell you everything, telling you too much could endanger the lives of the people who made this information available to us.” He rotated a map on his desk so Glenn could read the location names and pointed as he spoke. “It’s come to our attention that The Provident have been assembling a sizeable force in the Harrisburg region. While I can’t say for certain, it’s a pretty safe bet that if they’re massing that far to the east, they’re not planning to come here, Alexandria is probably going to be their target.” Glenn closed his eyes and winced. Aasim continued “Oh, it gets worse. Clem’s flood is the gift that keeps on giving. Of the eleven other Appalachian Union cities, seven issued warrants for Clem’s arrest. They’ve charged her with the murder of their representatives.” He glared at Clem and said aside “I guess they didn’t buy your ‘unavoidable collateral damage’ excuse” then turned back to Glenn. “We got lucky though, Clem’s really popular with the people. Three of those warrants resulted in riots that lead to new, Clementine friendly, leadership.”

“It looks like your fans might’ve just saved your ass. Maybe you should try being nicer to them” commented Roberta, which elicited an annoyed and weary sounding “Shut up” from Clem. Glenn assumed there was a bit of history behind this exchange, and considering that Roberta was a merchant, it probably had something to do with a plan she’d made to profit off those fans that fell through because Clem wasn’t interested.

Aasim rolled his eyes and picked up where he left off “So, now we only have a four city posse coming to arrest Clem.” Glenn considered asking about the possibility of just handing her over to them, but seeing AJ in the room and having a good guess who the Rangers would be loyal to if they had to pick between Clem or the council, he knew that wasn’t going to happen. “So, what this means for you is; no matter how much we’d like to help, we can’t. The only thing preventing an Appalachian Civil War is the presence of the Rangers. If we deploy them to Alexandria, we’ll be leaving Everett open to attack with only our militia to defend us.”

Exasperated, Glenn pleaded “Aren’t you the biggest city in Appalachia, and by a wide margin to hear Jessi tell it? You’ll have your walls. You’ll have the numbers. You’ll have that big gun I saw outside. I think you can handle it!”

Molly answered this time “It’s not as simple as just numbers. Skill, training, equipment, experience, all of it matters. Almost everyone in Everett who has a will to fight is already with the Rangers. The militia is mostly civilians who want to be sure they can protect their homes if worse comes to worst. Calling them weekend warriors would be a promotion. The other cities won’t have our numbers but they’ll be sending their best fighters in that posse. None of them can match the experience the Rangers have racked up from years of stomping raiders, and they know it, so no one’s gonna mess with them, but if the Rangers are out of the picture, we’re screwed.”

“You’re all acting like we’re some magical answer to all of your problems” interjected AJ. “We’re not. The posse, that’s something we can handle, but from what we recovered after the flood, I have my doubts about our chances against a The Provident. They had heavy machine guns mounted on their trucks and tons of ammo. We’re basically a light cavalry company. Do you know what brought an end to cavalry charges? The machine gun, that’s what. I don’t think we can take them in a straight fight. I’m sorry Glenn, even if we weren’t needed here, I’m not leading my people into that kind of fire.”

From the back of the room, Lee spoke up. “Where are they getting their ammo?” Glenn turned to look in his direction and wondered about the appropriateness of Lee being present for this meeting, then remembered what he’d said about Clem wanting him to learn how to lead. Well, if the boss says her kid gets to stay, who’s gonna argue?

Aasim opened a desk drawer and pulled out the dossier Mitch had handed Clem. “According to this, they managed to get an old world arms factory up and running in Springfield Mass. That’s where they’re getting their guns and ammo. It’s all brand new.”

“You could make sense of that?” asked Glenn.

With a sorrowful tone, Aasim replied “Mitch wrote it in a shorthand I taught him.”

Cautiously, Lee continued “Did it give you an idea of how well defended the factory is?”

“Well, no. Just, that the rest of the artillery they recovered is there. They brought the guns there to restore them. The four at Johnstown were just the ones they got working. Why do you keep asking about the factory?”

Lee hesitantly offered “Well, Clem’s plan was for us to bog The Provident down while Alexandria struck at their heart. Now we know where their heart is, it’s that factory. Her plan could still work, we just have to trade roles. Have the Rangers attack the factory while Alexandria defends. If the machine guns are a problem, cut off their ammo supply then hit ‘em when they run out.”

Clem grinned at Lee, while everyone else’s expressions ranged from annoyed to horrified. Molly and Glenn each began to speak, but Molly was a bit more forceful “No way! Without the Rangers backing us up, the militia will fold.”

Lee gave a sly smile “We won’t need the Rangers, we have Clementine.”

Clem quickly dropped her grin and replaced it with a look of surprise. “Uh, what?”

Lee explained “Everyone knows who you are. If they see you’re the one leading them, the militia will stand their ground. They won’t abandon you.”

Clem tapped her leg “For that to work, I’d have to be in the thick of it, and my fighting days are long gone.”

An annoyed Molly interjected “Oh bullshit! You’ve been in tons of fights since you lost your leg. You spent plenty of nights sobering up in one of my cells after leaving some poor stranger spittin’ teeth.”

Clementine countered “A siege and a drunken brawl aren’t quite the same thing. Besides, I haven’t even been in one of those since I quit drinking.”

Aasim pointed out “What about that guy you knifed in the old church? You were sober when you did that.”

Defensively, Clem declared “That was personal. He and I had history.”

Aasim gave her an indignant look “It had been almost thirty years! He was trying to make amends.”

AJ cut in “Can we get back on track here?” 

Lee asked “Do you have to actually be in the middle of the fighting? Can’t you just stand in front of them, give a speech or something, then keep to the rear?

Clem shook her head “Uh, kiddo, I think it’ll take a bit more than that. I don’t think just having someone famous with you is enough to win a battle. Ever heard of a guy named Davy Crockett and a place called the Alamo? It didn’t go so well for him.”

Hal contributed “Santa Anna outnumbered and outgunned the defenders at the Alamo. You’ll have the numbers and maybe the guns, if my crews can repair enough of the ones we salvaged. You just have to get our militia to stick around long enough to use them.”

Molly hesitantly conceded “This could work.”

Clem protested “No it can’t!”

An angry Glenn interjected “And what about Alexandria, do you think Clem can show up and inspire our walls to hold together? They were built to stop walkers, not cannons”

Lee cringed at hearing Glenn yell, leading to a glare from AJ that left Glenn chilled. Lee admitted “I don’t really know much about Alexandria. I’ve never been there. I… I don’t know what to tell you.” Lee shrugged.

AJ took over “And as I already said, we can’t help you until something is done about those machine guns. One way or another, you’re just going to have to find a way to hold out.”

Despondent, Glenn declared “Well, that’s it then. There’s no point in me sticking around any longer. I need to get back to Alexandria to let them know what’s coming. Thank you, for the warning, I guess.” He looked at AJ “Can I tell my council that we have your word, if we can hold out you won’t abandon us?”

Resolutely, AJ replied “I’m not going to stand by and wait while they hurt even more people. These guys are as bad as they come, and as far killing bad guys goes, no one’s better at it than me. Tell your people I’ll be there for them but this won’t be over quickly. I’m not going to be able to roll over them like I would your average band of marauders, they’re way too strong for that. We have to be smart about this and wear them down little by little, which means your people will need to be prepared to hold out for a good long while. We’re talking months, probably.”

Glenn nodded his understanding and showed himself out. He found his way back to the livery where he collected his horse and mounted up for the journey home. At the gate he was stopped by the guard. “We were told to give you this on your way out.” The guard handed him a gun belt with a pistol already in the holster.

“This isn’t mine” pointed out Glenn.

“It’s a gift” said the guard. “Clementine wanted you to have it. She noticed all you were carrying was a knife and thought, since you’re a Grimes and all, you should be carrying a big ass revolver. We make these locally and they’re issued to all our Rangers and deputies, so don’t get too excited. It’s a single action, so you have to cock the hammer every time you fire, and uh, it’s chambered in .44-40. We make those here too if you need more but I figure you probably have your own bullet maker who could save you the trip. Now, you have a safe journey, ya’hear.”

Glenn stared at the pistol. He had long accepted the simple truth that he was not his grandfather. Rick had had a hard life, but through his efforts he had ensured that Glenn would have a much better one, a fact for which Glenn was most grateful. In his short time with Lee, it had become clear to Glenn that Clementine had been trying to mold him into a new and improved version of herself. It had been kind of her to give him the pistol, but he couldn’t help wonder if she was attempting the same with him, trying to nudge him toward becoming another Rick, which was something he knew could never happen. He considered giving it to Andrea, since she was more like Rick than he’d ever be, and might actually appreciate it, but figured he’d better keep it. It was likely he’d be back to Everett someday, and it might offend his host if he didn’t show up wearing it.

Glenn thanked the guard, strapped on his new gun belt, then exited through the gate. He made his way through the forest, following the old roads to get to I-66 which he knew led to one of the few remaining bridges that could take him over the Shenandoah. As he approached the ruins of Front Royal, he could hear the distinct sound of distant gunfire. He ducked into the woods and proceeded on foot to get a closer look without drawing attention. When he got close enough to see the town, he saw several Provident soldiers rummaging through a wagon. A checkpoint had been set up on the bridge and the unfortunate owners of the wagon had stumbled into it. Glenn knew what this meant. The Provident were making their move against Alexandria and wanted to make sure no help would be coming. 

There were other bridges he could try, and south was probably a safer bet than north. He made his way to the next bridge he knew to be intact, a day’s ride to the south at Whitehouse Landing. He approached cautiously, knowing there was a good chance Provident soldiers would be there too. Sure enough, he could see that they had beaten him to it. This time, however, the position of the bridge in relation to the woods gave him a better view of their activities. They hadn’t sent very many soldiers to the bridge, but he could see that several of them were busily climbing around on the supports below the bridge. They were preparing to blow it up if anyone tried to cross it. If they were at these two bridges, they were probably at all of them by now… and at Alexandria. He was too late. Thoroughly disheartened, he turned around to return to Everett to deliver the bad news.

Upon his arrival, he found the gate closed. The guard atop the wall recognized him and called out “Back so soon?” then climbed down to open the gate for him without waiting for a reply. As soon as Glenn passed the threshold, the guard closed the gate behind him.

“It’s already begun. Alexandria is cut off.” Glenn told him.

“We know.” The guard replied “You should make your way to the admin building, Aasim will probably want to fill you in on what’s been going on since you left.”

Glenn made his way to the livery where he’d stabled his horse the last time he’d been there, but was surprised when they turned him away due to his lack of the local currency, so he simply rode his horse into town. He found himself having to ride around several piles of random debris where the residents had begun building barricades in the streets. As he passed Clementine’s house, he could see a depressed looking Lee sitting on the steps out front. Glenn pulled up next to the house to see if Lee could give him an update. “The gates were closed when I arrived and they’re blocking off the streets. What’s going on?”

“We learned about the attack on Alexandria yesterday, so the Rangers left for the factory this morning. It means we’re vulnerable. Everyone’s getting ready.”

Glenn gestured toward the steps “This doesn’t look like getting ready.”

“I’m being evacuated. Clem says it’s too risky for me to stay in town, so she’s making my mom take me to stay with Grandma Alice’s family. My mom hates them, so this oughta suck, but Clem says they’ve been hiding stills since the days of the Whiskey Rebellion so they should be able to hide me. Mom went to get Grandma Alice and the horses while I came here to say goodbye to Clem but she isn’t in. So now I’m just waiting for my ride.”

“Well, good luck with that. Stay safe out there, OK?”

“Yeah, thanks. When my mom starts going off on her cousins, I’ll be sure to take cover.”

Glenn proceeded down the street toward the center of the town, passing several partially constructed barricades along the way. When he arrived at the park, he found members of the militia had started digging trenches in front of the walled complex at the north end of the square. He made his way to the fort, where the gate guard had him wait while he used a phone like the one he’d seen on Aasim’s desk the last time he’d been there. After a couple minutes on the phone, Glenn was allowed in. The guard took charge of his horse then sent him on into the building. Once inside he made his way up to the Mayor’s office, where he found Aasim sitting alone with documents spread out over his desk.

“Have you come to deliver more news I probably already know?” Aasim asked dryly

“More like I found myself cut off and didn’t know where else to turn,” conceded Glenn “but yes, I also came to let you know the roads to Alexandria were blocked.”

“What’re you going to do now?”

“I don’t know”

“Yeah, me too. It feels like I’m being dragged along by the tide… Like I don’t have control over any of this.” Aasim tipped back in his chair and sighed. His eyes looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks. “There’s an Inn connected to the cider house, it’s where the travelling merchants stay when they come to town. I’ll arrange a room for you there. The proprietor is a friend, one of the founders, a man named Omar. He’s an absolute god in the kitchen, so you’ll eat well. I swear, we now owe half our economy to the cider recipe he came up with… just off the top of his head. We can’t brew enough of the stuff. You’ll like him. Everybody does.”

Trying to stifle a gnawing feeling of outrage that he’d been allowed to walk into a trap, Glenn asked “I ran into Lee on the way here. He knew Alexandria had been attacked. I almost stumbled into a roadblock on my way there. Did you know, before I left, what I was heading into?”

Calmly, Aasim closed his eyes and explained “No, we didn’t know. Mitch was our only operative within The Provident so all of our information on their movement is coming second hand. Back when Clem was deciding where to send her agents, The Provident just seemed like a kooky cult from Buffalo. They didn’t seem like a threat, so she didn’t send any their way at all. Mitch went to them on his own. The whole spy network thing started out as his idea, so she wanted him to stay here to manage it for her. He had other ideas, I guess… Back then The Commonwealth was our biggest concern, especially after we turned down their request to become their fourth expansion zone. We figured we had to have a plan to deal with them if they ever decided their offer to join them wasn’t just a request. They’ve always been bigger and stronger than us, but as Clem pointed out, she could say the same about everyone she’s ever been up against and she’s always found a way to win. She figured we needed some sort of advantage over them, and a few well-placed spies would give us just that. So, Clem sent the majority of our agents to The Commonwealth…” Aasim’s tone became somewhat despondent. “They were just a bunch of kids, like Mitch, students of hers whose heads she’d filled with spy novel nonsense…” Aasim sighed and resumed a more even tone. “But it worked. A few of them managed to rise through ranks of The Commonwealth’s military to positions that gave them access to their biggest secrets. That’s how we knew The Provident were massing at Harrisburg. The Commonwealth is watching them from the air, and we have a spy who’s radioing updates to us about what they’re seeing. It just takes her a little while to get the messages out. We’re grateful she’s getting the information to us at all, we don’t want to rush her and get her caught.”

“Wait, you have a radio? We have ham radios all over Virginia. We could’ve just contacted one of them and saved me the trip!”

“Do any of your ham radio operators speak Poqomam?”

“What?”

“It’s one of the Mayan languages. Before the fall only a few people in Central America spoke it. Jessi’s dad was one of them. That’s how he and Alice met. She was studying linguistics at UVa and he was there as a guest speaker when the change happened. He and Alice escaped Charlottesville together. Alice learned Poqomam from him. He was teaching it to Jessi too, until he was killed. Jessi and Alice taught it to our spies, and now we use it as our radio code. So, unless you have someone in Virginia who can speak it, then we’ll be stuck speaking plain, uncoded English, and the Provident will be able to hear everything we say to each other.”

“Do you have any spies in Alexandria who could act as the go-betweens?”

“We did… They’ve all gone silent.”

***

“C’mon, we’ve gotta go.” Glenn felt a hand on his shoulder shaking him awake, but by the time he’d opened his eyes, Omar had already rushed off to the next room. He sat up and immediately regretted it. He’d indulged in too much of Omar’s hard cider to be getting up this early. In Alexandria, no one would have served alcohol to a seventeen year old, but Omar hadn’t bothered to ask how old he was, and he figured having his homeland invaded was the right occasion to get drunk for the first time… which also meant that he was now experiencing his first hangover.

He could hear Omar going down the hall, waking the other unfortunate out-of-towners who’d found themselves stuck in Everett while it was on the verge of a siege. He’d passed out fully dressed, so all he had to do was stumble his way into the hall, where the six other confused guests had gathered. Seeing that they were all there, Omar led them outside then down the street at a brisk pace.

“Where are we going?” asked one of the guests.

“To the fort, it’s the safest place in town” Omar answered.

The streets were strangely dark. The electric lighting Glenn had become used to seeing had been turned off. As they reached the north end of the block, an explosion could be heard from the southwest. Turning to face the direction of the blast, Glenn could see an orange plume rising in the distance beyond the buildings. 

Omar called out “Get down” and pulled two of the guests over to take cover against the nearest building. Glenn followed suit as chunks of wood began to rain down around them. The concussion of the blast felt like it was reverberating through his head, amplifying the pressure of the hangover until it felt like it had to come out somewhere… and then it did, all over the wall he was sheltering against. The other guests reacted with disgust at the sight of his emesis, while Omar reassured him “Hey, it’s OK to be scared. We can’t all be Clem.”

When it seemed like the debris had stopped falling, Omar beckoned them to follow. Looking back, Glenn could see defenders toppling barricades so they’d block the roads completely, then lighting them on fire. Omar had picked up the pace, periodically pausing to allow the slowest of the guests to catch up until eventually they arrived at Fort Texas just as the sun was beginning to rise. Seeing one of the founders at the gate, the guards opened it up to let them in. 

Omar called over to one of the men readying the Howitzer. “Willy, did you figure that thing out yet?”

The man replied “I know how to make it go boom, just not how to aim it. Left and right is one thing, but I haven’t figured out how to make it come down where I want it yet.”

“That’s not good, Willy. Look I’ve gotta get these people someplace safe, I’ll be back, alright?” Omar started heading toward a sloped door next to the building

Seeing where he was heading, Willy called out to him “Don’t take them in there! We’ve got it full of ammo.”

“Where else can I take them?”

“I don’t know, just not in there. When you’re done, head up the tower, we could use another spotter.”

Omar turned to his guests and told them “Alright, follow me.” He lead them past the graveyard to the athletic field behind the main building where several people were busily carrying medical supplies to tents that had been set up around the field. “Hey Ruby, I’ve got some folks here from out of town who don’t need to get anymore mixed up in this than they already have been. I figure this was as close to safe a place as we’re going to find. Is it alright if I leave them with you?”

“Why sure. Y’all just be sure to stay to the sides though. When the wounded start comin’ in this place is liable to be hoppin’.”

Glenn caught Omar’s arm as he turned toward the bell tower. “Are you heading up there?”

“Yeah. That’s where we have the best view of the town. When Willy starts firing that thing, I can call down and tell him where it lands.”

“Then that’s where I want to be.”

“Why would you want to do that?”

“I want to see what’s coming. Besides, it sounds like you could use another spotter anyway.”

“OK, but if you’re thinking you’ll be safer up there, just remember, if they break through and set the building on fire, there’s only one way up or down that tower. Are you sure about this?”

Glenn thought that since Omar put it that way, no, he wasn’t sure he wanted to go up, but for some reason he answered “Yes” anyway.

Omar gave him a halfhearted “alright” then waved for him to follow. Glenn followed him up the steps to the top of the tower. A deck had been built across the opening in the middle of the tower and a desk with several phones and a map sat where a bell had once hung. Several spotters had already taken their places at the rails, most holding binoculars. Glenn went to the rail while Omar went to the phones. He looked over the rail and quickly realized that looking straight down the tower was a mistake in his condition, after which he made sure to keep his eyes on the town.

Glenn could hear the spotters call out a location whenever the attackers broke through a barricade, followed by someone on the phone repeating the location. Glenn stepped back to study the map. Sure enough, it was a map of the town showing the location of all the barricades. Each street and several landmarks were labeled in black while the barricades were labeled in either red or blue and there were three Xs marked on the wall. Glenn looked across the town at where the hole had been blown in the wall and saw it was where one of the Xs had been marked on the map. The Xs must have been predicted points of entry. He studied the map further. At the bottom was the word “strong” in red and “weak” in blue. He looked at the pattern of the red and blue barricades and realized that they’d been set up to funnel the attackers to the south end of the town square, regardless of which X they entered at. 

Glenn returned to the rail and watched as the attackers continued to work their way through the flaming barricades while exchanging small arms fire with the locals, who would move from barricade to barricade setting them alight when they saw the previous one had been nearly breached. He moved back and forth between the rail and the map, updating Omar on his observation each time he returned to the table.

Around noon, the attackers broke through the last barricade and flooded into the south end of the park. They halted their advance when they saw that the town’s militia had dug in at the north end and took cover wherever they could, tipping over benches and tables, gathering behind notice boards, and crouching behind the bandstand. Between the trenches to the north and the bandstand to the south lay a nearly two hundred yard no man’s land with only the statue of Lee offering any cover. 

From the steps of the library, something familiar caught Glenn’s eye. A patch of wavy grey hair, gathered into a short pony tail, over a long brown duster. Clementine was making her way to the square. She casually strolled down the central path, with her thumbs hooked in her belt to either side of the buckle, giving the posse plenty of time to move in and prepare their makeshift cover as she nonchalantly made her way to the statue of Lee. Upon arrival, she simply stopped and leaned her shoulder against the statue’s base. 

After a moment, a member of the posse stepped forward to confront her. He stopped about ten yards from the statue, and in a booming voice, loud enough that Glenn could hear it from the tower, declared “Clementine! We, the duly deputized citizens of Pike’s Ridge, Bechtel, Lookout, and Hawk’s Nest, have come to bring you to justice for the murders of Wilma McCullough, Edward Pike, Donna Logan, and Jonathan Teague!” Clementine tilted her head back and took a deep breath. The man continued “Now you come quietly. No one else needs to die on account…” She lowered her head sharply, and all hell broke loose. 

A blast came from either side of the square. Glenn had seen the preparations; he knew what the militia had in store for the posse. Only one of The Provident’s howitzers had made it through the flood with an intact barrel, the other three barrels had been damaged beyond repair. All four of the big guns came through with their firing mechanisms intact, while each had varying degrees of damage to their chassis. Hal’s answer to the damaged barrels had simply been to cut off the mangled portions and arm some shells with makeshift canister shot, turning two of the howitzers into giant sawed off shotguns. The fourth howitzer was scrapped for parts to repair the chassis of the other three. A shop on either side of the square had been gutted and had their rear walls removed so the modified howitzers could be concealed within. The shop doors had been removed and replaced with painted canvas for the guns to fire through. Clem lowering her head was their signal to fire. In the days leading up to the attack, crews had removed any substantial structures from the park that might have served as effective cover and replaced them with lighter versions that would be easily pierced by the heavy ball bearings of the canister shot. The result was more terror than carnage, but there was plenty of the latter as well.

The man who’d approached Clementine instinctively crouched and looked in the direction of the blast to his right, giving Clem all the time she needed to act, but rather than open fire or take cover behind the statue, she charged forward. She grabbed the barrel his rifle as he was in the process turning back toward her and forced its muzzle toward the ground. Glenn could see him double over as she jammed her pistol hard under his ribs. She tossed his rifle aside then dragged him back around the statue, always keeping him between her and the posse. She was holding their attention, causing any among them who still had their wits about them to waste precious seconds trying to line up a shot on her to try to save their leader rather than paying attention to what her militia was doing. 

The gun crews for the two concealed howitzers had been standing outside the rear of the buildings before receiving the signal to fire. After firing the first shot, they rushed in to reload, while the militia emerged from their trenches and advanced on the posse to their south. The western gun crew exited the rear of their building and fired a second round, while the eastern gun crew was delayed. A member of the east gun crew stepped into the square and motioned for the militia to advance past them, something must have gone wrong with their gun. There would be no second shot from it. 

As the militia passed Clem and the Howitzers, they roared and accelerated to a full charge. The members of the posse who had managed to recover from the second volley of canister shot fled the way they’d arrived. The rest disappeared under the charging mass of the militia. Glenn could see a puff of red exit the back of the man Clem had been holding. After stepping aside to allow the man to fall to the ground, Clem put a second round into his head, then ran along the path to catch up with her forces. Now that they were fully engaged, she no longer to use him as a shield, and simply discarded him. Glenn was already feeling ill from the bloodshed he’d witnessed, or maybe it was still the hangover, but seeing her needlessly execute this man left him chilled. It reminded him of his earlier claim that she was eliminating her political rivals. She had seen to it that this man, who’d managed to rally a mob to take up arms in defiance of her, would never be able to speak out against her again.

The third Howitzer fired from within the fort, launching a round over the heads of the fleeing attackers that landed somewhere in the orchard. It had missed completely, but it had had its desired effect anyway. Weapons were quickly dropped, and hands could be seen being thrust into the air. The attackers had surrendered. Clementine had won.

Glenn felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Omar. “Ruby’s about to be very busy, lets get you and the rest of the guests back to the inn.” They made their way down the tower and collected the other guests, being careful to stay out of the path of the stretcher bearers. Omar showed them an alternate path out of the fort, using an old breach in the green house as an exit so as to avoid disrupting the work of the medics. They made their way around the fort to the east, then south through town, staying clear of the square. Along the way, Glenn spotted the howitzer from the eastern side of the square being hitched to a team of horses. There had been a problem with the recoil system and it had failed to recuperate after it had fired the first round. Maybe using it after cutting off the damaged portion of the barrel hadn’t been such a good idea after all.

When they reached the street that marked the south end of the square, one of Everett’s deputy sheriffs signaled for them to stop. He informed them that the militia were still sweeping the south end of town for stragglers and advised them stay away until it was deemed safe. Omar invited the out-of-towners to his home where he treated them to a meal. It was the best thing Glenn had ever tasted, but still, after what he’d just seen, he found himself feeling ill after just a few bites and apologized to Omar for having to decline his generous hospitality.

The all clear was called near dusk, and they made their way back to the inn where, Omar left them in the care of the night manager. Glenn returned to his room and flopped on his bed. He found himself in the irritating position of being exhausted but too agitated by what he’d seen to sleep. Laying awake, he ruminated over and over again about what Appalachia could do to help Virginia now that their infighting had hopefully reached its end. 

He spent the next several days at the inn, hoping to find some way to be of use, but mostly found himself observing the locals as the city recovered from the battle. The remnants of the barricades disappeared within a couple days, allowing commercial traffic in the city to return to its usual flow. The damage to the park would take much longer to repair, as would the damage to the shops that lined the southern end of the square, but that didn’t stop most of them from reopening just as soon as the streets were clear.

Within a week of the battle they received word that the raid on the factory in Springfield had been a success. “The blast could be seen for miles” was the phrase commonly repeated around town to describe what the Rangers had done to the factory. Glenn could only guess that their spy in The Commonwealth was the source of this news.

About a week after the battle, Jessi returned with Lee, Alice, and two men Glenn hadn’t met before, along with a wagon packed with ceramic jugs. Jessi stopped at the cider house while the rest of her party continued on toward the square. She didn’t seem to notice Glenn sitting by the window, staring at his breakfast, as she made her way straight for the owner and greeted him with a hug. “Hey there Omar. You interested in procuring some moonshine for your fine establishment here?”

“Nah, I’m good, still have some left over from the last time Joseph came through. Who’s that with him?

“That’s his son Cade. Old Joe’ll be passing along the family business to him soon and he wants him to learn this end of the trade. At least Cade doesn’t seem to be as much of a scheming ass as my uncle is but give him time, I’m sure he’ll piss me off eventually.”

Omar gave Jess a knowing smile. “Does this mean you’ll be spending the rest of the day hiding in here with us?”

“Oh yeah!”

“I’ll be sure to tell anyone who asks that you haggled for hours but I just wouldn’t budge.”

“Thanks, Omar, I owe you.”

“You want your usual?”

“Sure do.” 

Omar signaled his bartender, who began to busy herself with something beneath the bar. As the two walked toward the bar together, Jessi asked “I hear Clem did something incredibly stupid to impress my son, then those big guns made quick work of the posse.”

Omar opined “I guess that’s one way to put it” then caught a glass the barkeep had slid their way and asked “How’d it go out there?” as he handed it to her.

Jessi replied “Ok, I s’pose. Some Pikes tried to track us. We ditched ‘em in a mine. I don’t think they’ll be getting out.” She took a sip, held up the glass toward the bartender, and stated “Thanks, Nida, I appreciate it.” She then turned to Omar and asked “Speaking of passing on the family business, how much longer until Nida here’s running this place?” 

Omar opened his mouth to answer but Nida beat him to it. “Who says I’m not already?” Omar just gestured toward his daughter, letting Jessi know she already had her answer.

Jessi smiled and nodded. “I see how it is.” She took another sip then scanned the room and spotted Glenn. She called out to him “Well hey there stranger, fancy meeting you here. I gotta say, I’m surprised to see you’re still in town.” 

As she walked over to his table and sat across from him, a morose Glenn replied “It’s not like I’ve got anywhere else I can go. They took Alexandria. Hell, the only city in Virginia still putting up a fight is Richmond, and who knows how long that will last”

She gave him a wry smile “Why it seems to me, a man in your position has _everywhere_ to go. You’re it. You’re the best hope your people have. What the hell are you doing moping around in here when you should be out there making allies?” As she spoke, she pointed at the plate of food he wasn’t eating, which he gestured for her to take.

Glenn looked out the window and droned on. “I thought everyone here was already pretty much committed to fighting The Provident.”

She gave him a look of pity “Oh, bless your heart, I don’t mean out there on the street, I mean out there in the world. You should be negotiating with The Commonwealth or The Atlantic Federation, since both of them now share a border with the Provident.“

He tilted his head back and gave her a look of disbelief “And what reason would they have to help me? At least here I know I’m among friends, for all I know they’d hand me over to The Provident” 

She added a condescending smile to her look of pity “No one likes an expansionist power, especially one that’s right next door to them. Think of it this way, the Provident’s Germany, Virginia’s France, and you’re de Gaulle. You’ve already got your England, now you just need a Russia and a United States and you’ll be good to go.” Reading his blank expression, she followed up with “You knew the history of the Texas Rangers but you don’t know about Charles de Gaulle and World War II?” 

A bit embarrassed by his ignorance, Glenn countered “My grampa was a cop, so I was interested in cop stuff. What can I say?”

“How about ‘Hi, Ms. Clementine, I’m here for the remedial history class’?” She then belched and pushed back his now empty plate as though to punctuate her statement. “And your Godmother was samurai/judge, wasn’t she? Did that get you interested in bushido or law?”

Glenn gave a hesitant “No… and I don’t think just using a katana makes you a samurai.”

She glared at him for a moment, then told him “…I’ll find you a book. You can read it on your way to The Commonwealth. As for them handing you over, I’ll arrange for a delegation to go with you. They won’t touch you if you’re under our protection.”

He gave a “Thanks” that he meant to sound appreciative, but it came out sounding nervous instead.

“Try not to sound so eager.” 

“You mean like you with your family business?”

“Touché. Tell me, did Virginia dump you, turn you away when you needed them most, then barge their way back into your life ‘cause they realized they might be able to use you to get in good with the queen? ‘Cause if not, then it ain’t alike at all.”

Glenn was taken aback. “Damn, that’s a lot to unpack.”

“They’re my mom’s family, not mine. They booted her long before I was born. They gave her a choice, them or my dad, and she chose my dad, so they gave her the heave-ho. We went to them after the raid that killed my pa, and they told us to fuck off. Literally, those were her dad’s words. After that we wandered a bit and ended up here. Clem and AJ, they became our family. Imagine my surprise one day to see my uncles show up here with a wagon full of their finest, acting all buddy-buddy with Clem. That was during her dark days, after Vi died. She wasn’t thinking straight. All she saw was a way to drink away the pain, and they took full advantage of her misery.”

Glenn pointed at her glass, “Isn’t that kind of what you’re doing right now, trying to take the edge off of your family situation?”

She dipped a finger in the glass and flicked a little his way. The ice in the glass jingled as she stuck her finger in it and the liquid that splashed on his face was cold and smelled a little like lemon. “After seeing what Clem went through getting off that stuff, I’ll be sticking to water, thank you. What shocked me most about it all was how my ma acted, like nothing bad’d ever happened between ‘em. She gave me some crap about hate being a poison and forgiving being the antidote. Well, I don’t forgive. I’ll respect her wishes and make peace with them, but they’ll never be my family.”

Glenn sat and blinked for a moment after hearing her tale.

She gave him a befuddled look and asked “I notice you don’t talk much. Why is that?”

He shrugged and answered “You learn more by listening than talking.”

“And yet, you don’t know who Charles de Gaulle was. I don’t think that system works as well as you think it does. C’mon, I think we’ve hid here long enough” She stood and pulled a few bills from her pocket, only to have Omar wave them off. She put the money back in her pocket and nodded her thanks. From what Aasim had said about Everett’s economy, Glenn assumed Omar was probably already the wealthiest man in town, which would explain why he didn’t care about being paid for the meal… or for Glenn’s room come to think of it. Glenn dabbed away the water she’d flicked on him while muttering “I miss ice” as he rose from the table and followed her out.

She guided him along a route that took them on side streets, to avoid any merchants where her family might be selling any of their wares. As they walked she asked “Why don’t you have ice anymore?”

“Huh?”

“You said you miss ice, which tells me you had ice at some point but don’t have it anymore and wish you did. So what happened?”

“The last of the old freezers croaked.”

“And that prevents you from having ice how exactly?”

“We can’t make any more without ‘em. Same with ice cream, which I miss a whole lot more than I miss ice.”

“Ah, I see. So the last of your old world appliances stopped working and now you just have to go without. Meanwhile, here in Everett, where you may have noticed you’ll find almost no old world machinery, I get to enjoy my ice water whenever I want… Oh and by the way, Omar makes awesome ice cream, you really oughta try his apple pie flavor… Care to guess why our machines are still working while yours are petering out?” Glenn just shook his head, so she continued. “We make our own. We try to rely on those old world relics as little as possible. Anything we make ourselves, we know we can repair or replace. Sure, it’s not as fancy as an old world freezer, but our ice plant produces a few tons of ice per day, and if it should ever break down, we know how to fix it, or even build a new one if it comes to that. And reliability becomes a much bigger deal when we start talking about our weapons. It may not be as light or as fast as those old world assault rifles, but I know for sure that every time I pull the trigger on my Henry, a bullet will most definitely be coming out of that barrel and will be putting a hole in whatever I was aiming at, one hundred percent of the time. Meanwhile, those old assault rifles can be relied on to stove pipe more often than they can be to properly chamber a round. I can’t tell you how many jammed Stoner rifles I’ve found next to dead raiders.”

Her route had led them to the northeast corner of the town square, right by the entrance of the library. Seeing the admin building ahead of them, Glenn began walking toward the gate of the fort, but Jessi called after him “Nope, that’s not where you’re going” and led him into the library. From inside he could see that it was a long two story building. There was a staircase to either side of the main entrance leading to the second floor. On the first floor, he could see shelves lining the sides and rear of the building while reading tables had been set up in the middle. Looking up, he could see the second floor was open in the middle, allowing patrons on the first floor to view the vaulted ceiling, which was partially obscured by an artist’s scaffold. Glenn could see that images had been carved in relief along the upper quarter of the inner walls of the first floor. They appeared to portray a series of scenes. Glenn didn’t have time to examine all of the images so he focused on just one, which appeared to depict a mustachioed man holding some sort of cube over his head while another man lay at his feet and three other people; a man a woman, and a little girl, looked on in horror.

Jessi disappeared among the book shelves and emerged a moment later carrying a book. She started walking up the stairs and waved for him to follow. The second floor had a lounge and a large picture window to the south, which offered a view of the town square. He noticed a door on the east side of the lounge which he assumed led to the ramp he’d seen outside the building. There were several rooms to the north, east, and west, all of which opened to the walk way that surrounded the rectangular opening in the middle of the floor, which was lined by an ornate railing to keep people from carelessly falling through to the tables below. Jessi pointed to the north and whispered “That’s Clem’s office over there” as though Glenn could tell which office she was pointing at. She went on to explain “The rest of those offices are for the library administrators.” She pointed east and west and added “Those are where our researchers do their work; finding old technologies in these books and figuring out how we can make use of ‘em with the resources we’ve got available in these parts.” 

She led Glenn to one of the benches and whispered “If I leave Lee with Clem, here’s where I’ll usually find ‘em. I’ve gotten to the point where I just come here first when I get back to town. Lee and his Grandma’ll be sitting on that bench, reading Hobbes or Machiavelli, discussing whose teachings led to greater results; Sun Tzu or Vegetius, or maybe even arguing over whether T. E. Lawrence or Che Guevara mounted the better guerilla campaign.” She gave a bemused smile and tilted her head adding “Y’know, like normal folk.” She then opened the book she’d been carrying, found the page she wanted, and handed it to Glenn. “Read up, I’ll be back in a bit.” She’d left him on a passage about Charles de Gaulle.

She returned about an hour later and explained “I made arrangements. You’ll be leaving in the morning. They’re still working on who’ll be going with you. Clem said there’s been some developments in The Commonwealth, so it’s not safe for you to go there at the moment. You’ll be going to The Atlantic Federation instead. So, bonne chance monsieur de Gaulle.” Seeing his blank expression, she translated “It means good luck... You know what? Just keep reading. You’re gonna need all the help you can get.”


End file.
